{"id":215491,"date":"2024-05-02T08:31:30","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T12:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/?p=215491"},"modified":"2024-05-02T09:15:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T13:15:56","slug":"us-seeks-in-extradition-several-accused-in-grandparent-scam-thousands-in-us-fall-for-repeated-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2024\/05\/02\/us-seeks-in-extradition-several-accused-in-grandparent-scam-thousands-in-us-fall-for-repeated-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"US seeks in extradition several accused in grandparent scam; thousands in US fall for repeated scam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Procuraduria-General-de-la-RD-El-Caribe-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-168880\" width=\"600\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Dominican Attorney General Miriam German was recently in Washington, D.C where she met with US Justice authorities to foster collaboration between both countries to combat crime. Now with the indictment of several Dominicans for participation in what is being named the grandparents scam, the US government is seeking several to be extradited to face charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Public Ministry confirmed it is asking the judges of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) to authorize preventive custody for four Dominicans accused of scamming US citizens of millions of dollars in the extensive grandparents&#8217; scam. The fugitives of US justice said to be in the DR are Juan Rafael Parra Arias (Yofre), Rafael Rodr\u00edguez Guzm\u00e1n (Max Morgan), F\u00e9lix Samuel Reynoso Ventura (Fili\/Filly the Kid) and Jos\u00e9 Ismael Dilone Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US Justice Department reported on 30 April 2024 that sixteen individuals were charged in connection with a sprawling \u201cgrandparent scam\u201d to defraud elderly Americans out of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eleven men from the Dominican Republic are charged in a 19-count indictment with mail and wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the indictment, unsealed this week in Newark, New Jersey, the defendants engaged in a long-running \u201cgrandparent\u201d or \u201cfamily in need of bail\u201d scam against seniors in the United States. The scam was operated from call centers in the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Juan Rafael Parra Arias, Nefy Vladimir Parra Arrias and Gonzalez Acevedo operated a sophisticated network of call centers in the Dominican Republic. Their alleged victims included elderly residents of several states, including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The call centers victimized hundreds of Americans through fraud, stealing millions of dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Members of the conspiracy referred to as \u201copeners\u201d called elderly victims in the United States and impersonated the victims\u2019 children, grandchildren, or other close relatives. The call centers used technology to make it appear that the calls were coming from inside the United States. Typically, the victim was told that their grandchild had been in a car accident, was arrested in connection with an accident, and needed help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once openers tricked victims into believing their loved ones were in dire trouble, others working at the call centers, known as \u201cclosers,\u201d allegedly impersonated defense attorneys, police officers or court personnel and convinced victims to provide thousands of dollars in cash to help their loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/eldia.com.do\/pedidos-en-extradicion-estafadores-de-abuelos\/\">El Dia <\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/sixteen-defendants-charged-connection-transnational-grandparent-scam-operated-dominican\">US Department of Justice <\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2024\/05\/01\/scammers-older-americans-indictment-charges\/73517453007\/\">USA Today <\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2024\/05\/01\/us-marshals-and-dea-pleased-with-cooperation-from-dr-attorney-general-office\/\">DR1 News <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2 May 2024<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dominican Attorney General Miriam German was recently in Washington, D.C where she met with US Justice authorities to foster collaboration between both countries to combat crime. Now with the indictment of several Dominicans for participation in what is being named the grandparents scam, the US government is seeking several to be extradited to face charges. &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2024\/05\/02\/us-seeks-in-extradition-several-accused-in-grandparent-scam-thousands-in-us-fall-for-repeated-scam\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[330,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215491"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215570,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215491\/revisions\/215570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}